Great Barrier Reef 'should recover' from flood damage

A central Queensland academic says it is difficult to work out the impact of flooding on the Great Barrier Reef.

Dr Alison Jones from CQ University says the discharge of fresh water and sediment from the Fitzroy River is likely to kill a lot of coral off the Capricorn Coast.

But she says the extent of damage will depend on tides and currents.

Dr Jones says the last major flood in 1991 was devastating.

"The 1991 flood was extremely hard for the reef - pretty much most of the corals were wiped out down to about six to eight metres of depth and it took about 10 years for them to recover but they recovered magnificently," she said.

"We're very spoiled here in terms of the amount of coral and the speed at which it can grow and recover."

Dr Jones says fresh water and sediments pose the biggest threat, but high tides will help to flush the reef.

"The corals will have fresh water on them and then they'll have salt water on them - fresh, salt, fresh, salt - which they can survive a lot better than just having fresh water surrounding them all the time," she said.

"At the moment the worst of the flood water and the plume is along the mainland coast and it's being pushed north rather than spreading out to the Keppels but that may change over the next week."